How Long Should a Post be for SEO in 2019?

Blogging is one of the oldest and most impactful elements of digital marketing that has the power to drive user engagement and generate leads and conversions. But in the sea of more or less relevant content, marketers are beginning to ask a serious question: how long should a post be for SEO in 2019?

All it takes is to browse the Internet for a few minutes and find everything from short one-page stories to articles with almost 10 thousand words. But which ones perform better and how to plan your blogging strategy now?

We will answer all of these questions in our article, so keep reading to learn more about the ideal length of a blog post in 2019.

The Background of the Problem

Blog writing is extremely important for modern businesses because it grants exposure and makes a brand discoverable in the digital environment. According to the report, marketers who prioritize blogging are 13 times more likely to achieve a positive ROI on their efforts.

However, the numbers are not that clear when it comes to the word count.

First of all, you need a minimum of 300 words to be recognized by search engine algorithms. On the other hand, the average word count of a Google first page result is 1,890 words, but the numbers vary drastically from page to page. Backlinko, also known as one of the top-performing digital marketing blogs, publishes only long-form posts with no less than seven or eight thousand words per article.

There is obviously no secret formula to show you the best length of a blog post, so you have to delve deeper into the subject and analyze your own business goals and content creation activities. Let’s see how to do that.

The Pros of Writing Shorter Posts

Each type of content has its own advantages and you should understand them before making a decision which format is optimal for your website. We begin with shorter blog posts, so let’s check out the benefits of writing simpler articles.

Easy to write

The first reason to write shorter blogs is obvious – it takes less time than creating longer pieces of content. As a marketer, you probably don’t have enough time to spend on planning and writing gigantic posts. On the other side, it usually takes less than an hour to write a few hundred words of text. This is something almost every content creator or marketer can afford on a daily basis.

Easy to read

Shorter blog posts are simple and easy to read. They have a very clear structure with a brief introduction, a logical body part, and a concise conclusion. Greg Hudson, a content creator at the essay writing services Essay Mama, says such articles are extremely user-friendly: “Writing only a few hundred words, you allow readers to go through the post quickly and learn the key points in a matter of minutes, if not seconds.”

More pages to index

A website with more posts has a higher number of indexed pages. This is always good SEO-wise because you’ll have a better chance to rank highly in niche-related searches.

Mobile friendliness

The number of smartphone users is increasing year after year. Over half of the global internet traffic already comes from mobile devices, so you have to think about mobile friendliness as a major SEO component, too. Shorter articles are suitable for smartphone users because they are concise and well-structured. Mobile screens don’t like huge bulks of text, which is hard to avoid when writing much longer articles.

The Pros of Writing Longer Posts

Shorter articles obviously have a lot of pros, but their longer counterparts have their advantages as well. Without further ado, let’s go through the benefits of writing long-format content.

Search engine recognition

Google and other search engines use algorithms to identify content. In such circumstances, longer posts perform better because engines are able to accurately analyze the text and rank it accordingly.

More keywords to use

More text also means more room for you to place keywords. You know that keywords are the biggest SEO drivers, so it’s an excellent opportunity to use a lot of relevant words, synonyms, and longtail keywords to enrich your content and improve ranking.

Highly analytical

The more words you write, the higher the analytical potential of your posts. When you opt for a long-form blog, you get the opportunity to cover topics from all angles and design all-encompassing analyses.

Increase engagement

Longer formats proved to increase user engagement and inspire an avalanche of fan reactions. As such, they usually result in tons of social media shares, likes, tweets, and comments.

Backlink building

Backlinks are yet another highly relevant SEO element, but it takes an outstanding post to convince other authors to add a link to your content. This is the goal you are much more likely to achieve with longer articles.

Improve professional authority

When users notice that you are constantly creating comprehensive and amazing posts, they are going to recognise you as a genuine industry thought leader. This can drastically improve your professional authority and turn you into a social influencer over time.

Drive conversions

People who like your posts will soon become loyal followers. Once you achieve this level of authority, you can expect the followers to start trusting your recommendations and react positively to your calls to action.

How to Choose the Right Format for Your Blog

You’ve seen the pros of both content types, but how can you choose between the two options? It mostly depends on the nature of your blog and your business goals. This is exactly why you need to analyze the fundamental features of your marketing plan in order to identify the right format.

Our suggestion is to analyze the following criteria:

What do you want to achieve?

The way you approach content writing depends on your business goals. Is your objective to raise brand awareness, improve online reputation, boost loyalty, generate leads, or drive conversions? Each of these goals requires a unique approach, so make sure to figure out your business needs.

Sales funnel position

Mark Jacobson, a blogger at UK Essay On Time, says you should segment the audience based on different positions within the sales funnel: “For instance, first-time readers probably want a few basic information and search for shorter posts that are able to answer the fundamentals. On the other hand, people who are close to converting probably want to read highly analytical articles with lots of explanations and data-driven statements.”

Think about the topic

Sometimes the topic itself can tell you whether to write shorter or longer posts. After all, why would you bother writing a 3000-word article if you can say everything in less than a thousand words?

Who is going to write it?

This is another important question because it can determine the way you approach content creation. If you want to write posts but don’t have enough time to do it, then shorter formats are probably the only option. However, if you really want your articles to be amazing, you can hire academic writing services to write longer content on your behalf. Some of the most popular custom essay order services include EssayShark or AU Essays On Time.

Analyze the target audience

Sometimes you don’t even have to think about this issue so much because the audience can tell you what to do. If you are writing for serious business professionals, you are expected to create standout articles filled with stats and real-life examples. But if you are writing for younger audiences, you probably don’t need to create such a long post.

Conclusion

With everything we’ve said so far, it is clear that the word count alone is not something you should think about without considering a number of other content creation aspects. Our opinion is that longer posts perform better, so try to write more comprehensive articles whenever possible. But if you conclude that shorter formats can do the work just as well, don’t be afraid to write accordingly.

Tiffany Harper is a talented writer from New York and an extremely active woman, who works now as an experienced freelance consultant with AssignmentGeek, Scholar Advisor,best paper writing servicesmostly in technology and business area.Please do not hesitate to contact her on Twitter.